ByDesign Games

Nexon acquires 20% stake in Moyasoft

Game Industry News Pipe — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 15:44:00 +0000

Free-to-play publisher and developer Nexon has acquired a 20 per cent stake in Moyasoft, a Korean social game developer.

With the investment Nexon said it intends to support Moysoft's expansion into international markets and new platforms.

The two companies also plan to work together and co-develop mobile games based on Nexon's existing franchises, which include hit title Kart Rider. Moyasoft created social game GodWarz, which it has since spun off into PC and smartphone titles.

GAME: "We can’t stock absolutely everything"

Game Industry News Pipe — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 13:17:00 +0000

Specialist retailer GAME has said that it's unable to stock all new releases, in part due to shelf space in stores.

Yesterday it was revealed that the retailer would not be stocking any of Ubisoft's PlayStation Vita games at launch, and it also cancelled pre-orders for the Special Edition of Wii game The Last Story days before release.

The company is negotiation releases on a case-by-case basis with games publishers, following a troubled year in which it expects to make an £18 million loss.

Anger and threats following Spilt Milk fallout

Game Industry News Pipe — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 10:16:00 +0000

Former collaborators Spilt Milk Studio and contractor Nicoll Hunt are engaged in a legal and verbal battle over iOS game Hard Lines, highlighting the sour disputes that rage following success in the booming indie games sector.

Hunt is accusing Spilt Milk founder Andrew Smith of withholding profits from the sale of Hard Lines and using his IP without permission, an accusation that Smith denies.

Amongst a war of words, Smith terminated Hunt's contract after the developer said he was no longer interested in taking the game to different platforms or developing it further on iOS, but Hunt claims he's owed money for the releases and has since sent cease and desist letters to Apple and Spilt Milk because he owns the intellectual property.

Peak acquires Saudi social company Kammelna Games

Game Industry News Pipe — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 08:24:00 +0000

San Francisco's Peak Games has made a move into the emerging Middle East and North Africa markets with the acquisition of social company Kammelna Games.

Growth in the MENA region is expected to reach 400 million players by 2015, which the company intends to capitalise on with culturally specific games such as Kammelna's Baloot and Happy Farm, which boasts DAUs of 2.2 million.

"We have added Kammelna to the Peak Games family because of their profound understanding of MENA players and their focus on creating culturally relevant, multiplayer social games - where Peak already has an expertise with millions of users," said Sidar Sahin, CEO of Peak Games.

Puzzler World | BigFish

Free Game Downloads Pipe — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 08:00:00 +0000

Visit Puzzler World and enjoy different Puzzle types like Wordsearch, Fitword, Sudoku, and many more! Tackle the Quickplay mode for a quick Puzzle fix, or take on Challenge mode to unlock even more game types. Use hint tokens when things get too tricky and master the different types of gameplay to discover the bonus Puzzle modes. Immerse yourself in Puzzler World and put your brain and wits to the test!

Aaron Crane: Paintings Come Alive | BigFish

Free Game Downloads Pipe — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 08:00:00 +0000

Find Aaron’s missing father and discover the meaning behind his eerie paintings in Aaron Crane: Paintings Come Alive! Aaron’s father paints spooky images from his subconscious and no one seems to know what they mean. Suddenly, he disappears and it’s up to Aaron to track him down! Finding an address on one of the paintings, Aaron has found his first clue and must now go on an amazing adventure in this incredible Hidden Object Puzzle Adventure game.

Tech Focus: The Power of PlayStation Vita

Game Industry News Pipe — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 07:45:00 +0000

Finally, it's here. We've known plenty about PlayStation Vita for quite some time: sources were describing the technological make-up of Sony's new handheld way back in 2009. We were excited about it then, but it's safe to say that the final product comfortably exceeds expectations. Sony has got mightily close to replicating the current-gen console performance in a handheld form-factor and to experience that in action really is quite remarkable: a fully-featured portable Uncharted game might seem like a pipedream, but there it is - at launch, no less.

But with mobile technology evolving at a frightening rate, is Vita set for premature obsolescence? Can a fixed hardware platform compete against iOS and Android products that are refreshed every year without fail?

Cynics will look at the Vita specs and put forward the argument that the machine will be out-dated by the advances in mobile technology within a year or two. After all, iPad 2 already operates with dual core variants of the exact same CPU and GPU technologies found in the quad core Vita, and it's almost certain that the raw specs will be matched by the release of the iPad 3 next month, not to mention the next generation iPhone due later in the year.

PlayStation Vita UK Launch: A Sign Of The Times

Game Industry News Pipe — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 06:30:00 +0000

The Oxford Street branch of Game at 9pm on launch evening isn't expected to be as busy as at midnight, but for many of the 20-odd people queuing for a PlayStation Vita it feels like a disappointing turn-out.

And if any of the people here would know its Michael Cruz, a 23 year-old self-confessed "Sony fanboy" who was here for the launch of the PSP.

"I was expecting the queue to be a lot bigger," he says. "I must admit, I am slightly surprised, but at the same time I can understand it... A lot of my mates who I've asked about it have said that they'll hold out until the iPad 3 comes out. For a lot of them, it's a decision where they have to sacrifice one for the other."

AnimatedText | Unify Wiki

Unity3D News Pipe — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 02:32:21 +0000

Berenger: Creation of AnimatedText.cs

Author: Bérenger

== Description ==
Display a label animated on position, size and transparency.

== Usage ==
Place this script onto a GameObject. The movement animation curve determine the lerp between startRect and startrect + movement.
You can call the animation from a reference on the script with the function Begin( string text ).

== C# - AnimatedText.cs ==

using UnityEngine;
using System.Collections;

//Display a label animated on position, size and transparency.
public class AnimatedText : MonoBehaviour
{
public string txt = "Animated text";
public float time = 1f; // The length of the animation
public bool animatePos = true; // Does the position need to be animated ?
public bool animateAlpha = true; // Does the text need to fade ?
public bool animateSize = true; // Does the scale need to be animated ?
public bool playOnAwake = true; // Do you want to play the animation at start ?
public bool destroyWhenDone = true; // Do you want to destroy the gameObject when the animation is done ?
public Rect startRect = new Rect(10 ,10, 100, 100 ); // The start pos
public Vector2 movement = new Vector2(200, 0); // The endPos ( startRect + movement );

public AnimationCurve moveCurve; // The lerp between startRect and ( startRect + movement )
public AnimationCurve fadeCurve; // How is alpha behaving ?
public AnimationCurve sizeCurve; // How is the scale behaving ?
public GUIStyle style;

private float alpha = 1f;
private float scale = 1f;
private Rect currRect = new Rect(10 ,10, 100, 100 );

// Use this for initialization
void Awake ()
{
alpha = 0f;
if( playOnAwake ) Begin();
}

// Start the animation with the component's text
public void Begin(){ Begin(txt); }
// Start the animation with the argument
public void Begin(string str)
{
txt = str;
if( destroyWhenDone ) Destroy( gameObject, time );
StartCoroutine( Animate() );
}

// The animation coroutine
IEnumerator Animate()
{
float step = 1f / time;
float counter = 0f;
currRect = startRect;
alpha = 1f;
scale = 1f;
while( counter < time )
{
float s = counter * step;
float t = moveCurve.Evaluate( s );

// Fading
alpha = animateAlpha ? fadeCurve.Evaluate( s ) : 1f;
// Scaling
scale = animateSize ? sizeCurve.Evaluate( s ) : 1f;
// Moving
if( animatePos ) currRect = new Rect( Mathf.Lerp( startRect.x, startRect.x + movement.x, t ),
Mathf.Lerp( startRect.y, startRect.y + movement.y, t ),
startRect.width, startRect.height );

yield return null;
counter += Time.deltaTime;
}
}

void OnGUI()
{
GUI.color = new Color(1,1,1, alpha );

Vector2 pivotPoint = new Vector2( currRect.x + currRect.width * 0.5F, currRect.y + currRect.height * 0.5F);
GUIUtility.ScaleAroundPivot( scale * Vector2.one, pivotPoint );

GUI.Label( currRect, txt, style );
}
}

TerrainFourLayerToon | Unify Wiki

Unity3D News Pipe — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 02:29:13 +0000

Sigtau: Created page with "Category: Unity 3.x shaders A mesh terrain shader, based on the TerrainFourLayer2Pass shader, but with support for a toon ramp for shading. This shader originated as..."

[[Category: Unity 3.x shaders]]

A mesh terrain shader, based on the [[TerrainFourLayer2Pass]] shader, but with support for a toon ramp for shading. This shader originated as the winner of a small contest held on the Unity forums; the original thread of which can be found [http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/123902-A-Shader-Contest here]. The winning coder was Pvloon.

Great for games trying to achieve a stylized or cartoony art style that would prefer to not use Unity's built-in terrains, in favor of a mesh terrain or similar.

Comes in four variants:
* '''Compact''' - Uses two passes for compatibility with older cards. Use this if you're unsure about your target platform's specs.
* '''Compact Optional''' - Same as above, but it also contains two new(ish) features: a fallback texture for really old cards, and a light cutoff setting.
* '''Modern''' - A version of the shader that runs approximately 50% faster, but uses acceleration functions found only on somewhat more modern cards. Experiment with your target platform to ensure it works before using this.
* '''Modern Optional''' - Same as above, but contains the extra options found in the Compact Optional variant.

As previously stated, use the Compact version if you're not sure what's compatible with your target specs.

== Compact Variant ==

// Credit for all code goes to Arthur B. (Pvloon)
// Released to the Unify Community Wiki as part of a contest, for free or commercial use;
// HOWEVER, THIS NOTICE MUST BE RETAINED IF ANY OF THE FOLLOWING CODE IS USED.

// Upgrade NOTE: replaced 'V2F_POS_FOG' with 'float4 pos : SV_POSITION'

Shader "Terrain/Four Layer Toon Compat" {
Properties {
_Color ("Main Color", Color) = (1,1,1,1)
_MainTex ("Color 1 (RGB)", 2D) = "white" {}
_MainTex2 ("Color 2 (RGB)", 2D) = "white" {}
_MainTex3 ("Color 3 (RGB)", 2D) = "white" {}
_MainTex4 ("Color 4 (RGB)", 2D) = "white" {}
_Mask ("Mixing Mask (RGBA)", 2D) = "gray" {}
_Ramp ("Toon Ramp (RGB)", 2D) = "gray" {}
}

Category {
Lighting On
Cull Back
Fog { Color [_AddFog] }
Subshader
{
CGPROGRAM
#pragma surface surf ToonRamp

sampler2D _Ramp;

inline half4 LightingToonRamp (SurfaceOutput s, half3 lightDir, half atten)
{
#ifndef USING_DIRECTIONAL_LIGHT
lightDir = normalize(lightDir);
#endif

half d = dot (s.Normal, lightDir)*0.5 + 0.5;

half3 ramp = tex2D (_Ramp, float2(d,d)).rgb;

half4 c;

c.rgb = s.Albedo * _LightColor0.rgb * ramp * (atten * 2);
c.a = 0;
return c;
}

sampler2D _MainTex;
sampler2D _MainTex2;

sampler2D _Mask;
float4 _Color;

struct Input {
float4 pos : SV_POSITION;
float2 uv_MainTex;
float2 uv_MainTex2;

float2 uv_Mask;
float2 uv_Base;

float4 diffuse : COLOR;
};

void surf (Input IN, inout SurfaceOutput o) {

// get the first three layer colors
half4 color1 = tex2D( _MainTex, IN.uv_MainTex);
half4 color2 = tex2D( _MainTex2, IN.uv_MainTex2);

// get the mixing mask texture
half4 mask = tex2D( _Mask, IN.uv_Mask.xy);
// mix the three layers

half4 color = color1 * mask.r + color2 * mask.g;

o.Albedo = color.rgb;
o.Alpha = color.a;
}

ENDCG

Blend one one

CGPROGRAM
#pragma surface surf ToonRamp

sampler2D _Ramp;

inline half4 LightingToonRamp (SurfaceOutput s, half3 lightDir, half atten)
{
#ifndef USING_DIRECTIONAL_LIGHT
lightDir = normalize(lightDir);
#endif

half d = dot (s.Normal, lightDir)*0.5 + 0.5;

half3 ramp = tex2D (_Ramp, float2(d,d)).rgb;

half4 c;

c.rgb = s.Albedo * _LightColor0.rgb * ramp * (atten * 2);
c.a = 0;
return c;
}

sampler2D _MainTex3;
sampler2D _MainTex4;
sampler2D _Mask;
float4 _Color;

struct Input {
float4 pos : SV_POSITION;

float2 uv_MainTex3;
float2 uv_MainTex4;
float2 uv_Mask;
float2 uv_Base;

float4 diffuse : COLOR;
};

void surf (Input IN, inout SurfaceOutput o) {

// get the first three layer colors

half4 color3 = tex2D( _MainTex3, IN.uv_MainTex3);
half4 color4 = tex2D( _MainTex4, IN.uv_MainTex4);

// get the mixing mask texture
half4 mask = tex2D( _Mask, IN.uv_Mask.xy);

// mix the three layers
half4 color = color3 * mask.b + color4 * mask.a;

o.Albedo = color.rgb;
o.Alpha = color.a;
}

ENDCG
}
}

// ------------------------------------------------------------------
// Radeon 7000 / 9000
SubShader {
Pass {
Material {
Diffuse [_Color]
Ambient [_Color]
}
Lighting On
SetTexture [_MainTexture] {
Combine texture * primary DOUBLE, texture * primary
}
}
}
}

== Compact Optional Variant==

// Credit for all code goes to Arthur B. (Pvloon)
// Released to the Unify Community Wiki as part of a contest, for free or commercial use;
// HOWEVER, THIS NOTICE MUST BE RETAINED IF ANY OF THE FOLLOWING CODE IS USED.

// Upgrade NOTE: replaced 'V2F_POS_FOG' with 'float4 pos : SV_POSITION'

Shader "Terrain/Four Layer Toon Compat Optional" {
Properties {
_Color ("Main Color", Color) = (1,1,1,1)
_MainTex ("Color 1 (RGB)", 2D) = "white" {}
_MainTex2 ("Color 2 (RGB)", 2D) = "white" {}
_MainTex3 ("Color 3 (RGB)", 2D) = "white" {}
_MainTex4 ("Color 4 (RGB)", 2D) = "white" {}
_Mask ("Mixing Mask (RGBA)", 2D) = "gray" {}
_Ramp ("Toon Ramp (RGB)", 2D) = "gray" {}
_Base ("Base Color (RGB)", 2D) = "white" {}
_LightCutoff("Light Cutoff", Range(0, 0.5)) = 0.05
}

Category {
Lighting On
Cull Back
Fog { Color [_AddFog] }
Subshader
{
CGPROGRAM
#pragma surface surf ToonRamp

sampler2D _Ramp;
float _LightCutoff;

inline half4 LightingToonRamp (SurfaceOutput s, half3 lightDir, half atten)
{
#ifndef USING_DIRECTIONAL_LIGHT
lightDir = normalize(lightDir);
#endif

half d = dot (s.Normal, lightDir)*0.5 + 0.5;

half3 ramp = tex2D (_Ramp, float2(d,d)).rgb;

half4 c;

if (atten > (1.0 - _LightCutoff))
atten = 1.0;
else if (atten < _LightCutoff)
atten = 0;

c.rgb = s.Albedo * _LightColor0.rgb * ramp * (atten * 2);
c.a = 0;
return c;
}

sampler2D _MainTex;
sampler2D _MainTex2;

sampler2D _Mask;
float4 _Color;

struct Input {
float4 pos : SV_POSITION;
float2 uv_MainTex;
float2 uv_MainTex2;

float2 uv_Mask;
float2 uv_Base;

float4 diffuse : COLOR;
};

void surf (Input IN, inout SurfaceOutput o) {

// get the first three layer colors
half4 color1 = tex2D( _MainTex, IN.uv_MainTex);
half4 color2 = tex2D( _MainTex2, IN.uv_MainTex2);

// get the mixing mask texture
half4 mask = tex2D( _Mask, IN.uv_Mask.xy);
// mix the three layers

half4 color = color1 * mask.r + color2 * mask.g;

o.Albedo = color.rgb;
o.Alpha = color.a;
}

ENDCG

Blend one one

CGPROGRAM
#pragma surface surf ToonRamp

sampler2D _Ramp;
float _LightCutoff;

inline half4 LightingToonRamp (SurfaceOutput s, half3 lightDir, half atten)
{
#ifndef USING_DIRECTIONAL_LIGHT
lightDir = normalize(lightDir);
#endif

half d = dot (s.Normal, lightDir)*0.5 + 0.5;

half3 ramp = tex2D (_Ramp, float2(d,d)).rgb;

half4 c;

if (atten > (1.0 - _LightCutoff))
atten = 1.0;
else if (atten < _LightCutoff)
atten = 0;

c.rgb = s.Albedo * _LightColor0.rgb * ramp * (atten * 2);
c.a = 0;
return c;
}

sampler2D _MainTex3;
sampler2D _MainTex4;
sampler2D _Mask;
float4 _Color;

struct Input {
float4 pos : SV_POSITION;

float2 uv_MainTex3;
float2 uv_MainTex4;
float2 uv_Mask;
float2 uv_Base;

float4 diffuse : COLOR;
};

void surf (Input IN, inout SurfaceOutput o) {

// get the first three layer colors

half4 color3 = tex2D( _MainTex3, IN.uv_MainTex3);
half4 color4 = tex2D( _MainTex4, IN.uv_MainTex4);

// get the mixing mask texture
half4 mask = tex2D( _Mask, IN.uv_Mask.xy);

// mix the three layers
half4 color = color3 * mask.b + color4 * mask.a;

o.Albedo = color.rgb;
o.Alpha = color.a;
}

ENDCG
}
}

// ------------------------------------------------------------------
// Radeon 7000 / 9000
SubShader {
Pass {
Material {
Diffuse [_Color]
Ambient [_Color]
}
Lighting On
SetTexture [_Base] {
Combine texture * primary DOUBLE, texture * primary
}
}
}
}

== Modern Variant ==

// Credit for all code goes to Arthur B. (Pvloon)
// Released to the Unify Community Wiki as part of a contest, for free or commercial use;
// HOWEVER, THIS NOTICE MUST BE RETAINED IF ANY OF THE FOLLOWING CODE IS USED.

// Upgrade NOTE: replaced 'V2F_POS_FOG' with 'float4 pos : SV_POSITION'

Shader "Terrain/Four Layer Toon Modern" {
Properties {
_Color ("Main Color", Color) = (1,1,1,1)
_MainTex ("Color 1 (RGB)", 2D) = "white" {}
_MainTex2 ("Color 2 (RGB)", 2D) = "white" {}
_MainTex3 ("Color 3 (RGB)", 2D) = "white" {}
_MainTex4 ("Color 4 (RGB)", 2D) = "white" {}
_Mask ("Mixing Mask (RGBA)", 2D) = "gray" {}
_Ramp ("Toon Ramp (RGB)", 2D) = "gray" {}
_Base ("Base Color (RGB)", 2D) = "white" {}

}

Category {
Lighting On
Cull Back
Fog { Color [_AddFog] }
Subshader
{
CGPROGRAM
#pragma surface surf ToonRamp

sampler2D _Ramp;

inline half4 LightingToonRamp (SurfaceOutput s, half3 lightDir, half atten)
{
#ifndef USING_DIRECTIONAL_LIGHT
lightDir = normalize(lightDir);
#endif

half d = dot (s.Normal, lightDir)*0.5 + 0.5;

half3 ramp = tex2D (_Ramp, float2(d,d)).rgb;

half4 c;

c.rgb = s.Albedo * _LightColor0.rgb * ramp * (atten * 2);
c.a = 0;
return c;
}

sampler2D _MainTex;
sampler2D _MainTex2;
sampler2D _MainTex3;
sampler2D _MainTex4;
sampler2D _Mask;
float4 _Color;

struct Input {
float4 pos : SV_POSITION;
float2 uv_MainTex;
float2 uv_MainTex2;
float2 uv_MainTex3;
float2 uv_MainTex4;
float2 uv_Mask;
float2 uv_Base;

float4 diffuse : COLOR;
};

void surf (Input IN, inout SurfaceOutput o) {
// get the first three layer colors
half4 color1 = tex2D( _MainTex, IN.uv_MainTex);
half4 color2 = tex2D( _MainTex2, IN.uv_MainTex2);
half4 color3 = tex2D( _MainTex3, IN.uv_MainTex3);
half4 color4 = tex2D( _MainTex4, IN.uv_MainTex4);

// get the mixing mask texture
half4 mask = tex2D( _Mask, IN.uv_Mask.xy);
// mix the three layers

half4 color = color1 * mask.r + color2 * mask.g + color3 * mask.b + color4 * mask.a;

o.Albedo = color.rgb;
o.Alpha = color.a;
}

ENDCG
}
}

// ------------------------------------------------------------------
// Radeon 7000 / 9000
SubShader {
Pass {
Material {
Diffuse [_Color]
Ambient [_Color]
}
Lighting On
SetTexture [_MainTexture] {
Combine texture * primary DOUBLE, texture * primary
}
}
}
}

== Modern Optional Variant ==

// Credit for all code goes to Arthur B. (Pvloon)
// Released to the Unify Community Wiki as part of a contest, for free or commercial use;
// HOWEVER, THIS NOTICE MUST BE RETAINED IF ANY OF THE FOLLOWING CODE IS USED.

// Upgrade NOTE: replaced 'V2F_POS_FOG' with 'float4 pos : SV_POSITION'

Shader "Terrain/Four Layer Toon Modern Optional" {
Properties {
_Color ("Main Color", Color) = (1,1,1,1)
_MainTex ("Color 1 (RGB)", 2D) = "white" {}
_MainTex2 ("Color 2 (RGB)", 2D) = "white" {}
_MainTex3 ("Color 3 (RGB)", 2D) = "white" {}
_MainTex4 ("Color 4 (RGB)", 2D) = "white" {}
_Mask ("Mixing Mask (RGBA)", 2D) = "gray" {}
_Ramp ("Toon Ramp (RGB)", 2D) = "gray" {}
_Base ("Base Color (RGB)", 2D) = "white" {}
_LightCutoff("Light Cutoff", Range(0, 0.5)) = 0.05
}

Category {
Lighting On
Cull Back
Fog { Color [_AddFog] }
Subshader
{
CGPROGRAM
#pragma surface surf ToonRamp

sampler2D _Ramp;
float _LightCutoff;

inline half4 LightingToonRamp (SurfaceOutput s, half3 lightDir, half atten)
{
#ifndef USING_DIRECTIONAL_LIGHT
lightDir = normalize(lightDir);
#endif

half d = dot (s.Normal, lightDir)*0.5 + 0.5;

half3 ramp = tex2D (_Ramp, float2(d,d)).rgb;

half4 c;

if (atten > (1.0 - _LightCutoff))
atten = 1.0;
else if (atten < _LightCutoff)
atten = 0;

c.rgb = s.Albedo * _LightColor0.rgb * ramp * (atten * 2);
c.a = 0;
return c;
}

sampler2D _MainTex;
sampler2D _MainTex2;
sampler2D _MainTex3;
sampler2D _MainTex4;
sampler2D _Mask;
float4 _Color;

struct Input {
float4 pos : SV_POSITION;
float2 uv_MainTex;
float2 uv_MainTex2;
float2 uv_MainTex3;
float2 uv_MainTex4;
float2 uv_Mask;
float2 uv_Base;

float4 diffuse : COLOR;
};

void surf (Input IN, inout SurfaceOutput o) {
// get the first three layer colors
half4 color1 = tex2D( _MainTex, IN.uv_MainTex);
half4 color2 = tex2D( _MainTex2, IN.uv_MainTex2);
half4 color3 = tex2D( _MainTex3, IN.uv_MainTex3);
half4 color4 = tex2D( _MainTex4, IN.uv_MainTex4);

// get the mixing mask texture
half4 mask = tex2D( _Mask, IN.uv_Mask.xy);
// mix the three layers

half4 color = color1 * mask.r + color2 * mask.g + color3 * mask.b + color4 * mask.a;

o.Albedo = color.rgb;
o.Alpha = color.a;
}

ENDCG
}
}

// ------------------------------------------------------------------
// Radeon 7000 / 9000
SubShader {
Pass {
Material {
Diffuse [_Color]
Ambient [_Color]
}
Lighting On
SetTexture [_Base] {
Combine texture * primary DOUBLE, texture * primary
}
}
}
}

GAME not selling Ubisoft’s Vita launch titles

Game Industry News Pipe — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 16:25:00 +0000

Troubled High Street retailer GAME is not selling any of Ubisoft's PlayStation Vita launch titles.

The news comes on the eve of the launch of the new console at a time when the French publisher is supporting Sony's new hardware with five titles on day one.

GAME is struggling with credit insurance and is expected to make an £18 million loss this financial year. It hopes to recover by capitalising on the launch of new consoles such as the PS Vita and Nintendo's Wii U, but is unlikely to make the most of those opportunities if it cannot sell the software for them.

Developers question long-term viability of App Store

Game Industry News Pipe — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 15:56:00 +0000

The continuing value of the App Store to developers was under scrutiny at the BAFTA-hosted Games Question Time event last night.

An expert panel composed of UKIE head Jo Twist, Jagex CEO Mark Gerhard, Frontier Developments' David Braben and Rebellion CEO Jason Kingsley debated the likely effects of the increasing demand for high production values on iOS devices.

Jason Kingsley agreed that the emphasis for a product to be "as polished as possible" was greater than ever, but that the investment necessary for that standard of execution can still be offset in a way that's impossible on consoles.

Trion inks Southeast Asia deal for Rift

Game Industry News Pipe — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 14:29:00 +0000

Trion's MMO Rift is heading to six locations in Southeast Asia thanks to a new deal with game operator Asiasoft.

Asiasoft will operate and distribute Rift in Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam and Thailand. Previous Trion deals have set the game up for release in Korea with CJ E&M Games and China through Shanda Games.

"Trion has a global view when it comes to delivering premium games, and our initiatives to bring Rift to Asia through some of the industry's biggest collaborations sets Trion apart from other Western game developers,'' offered Lars Buttler, CEO of Trion Worlds.

Spilt Milk in dispute over Hard Lines rights | Edge

Game Industry News Pipe — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 11:46:43 +0000

The coder of iOS strategy game Hard Lines is locked in dispute with publisher Spilt Milk Studios over the rights to the game. Nicoll Hunt accuses Spilt Milk MD Andrew Smith of withholding his share of sales revenue unless he agrees to give up his rights to the game. Speaking to IndieGames, both parties give their perspective on the dispute.

http://indiegames.com/2012/02/crying_over_spilt_milk_indie_d_1.html

Indie Games

The coder of iOS strategy game Hard Lines is locked in dispute with publisher Spilt Milk Studios over the rights to the game.

Nicoll Hunt accuses Spilt Milk MD Andrew Smith of withholding his share of sales revenue unless he agrees to give up his rights to the game. Speaking to IndieGames, both parties give their perspective on the dispute.

Gree secures publishing deals with Gameloft and Ubisoft

Game Industry News Pipe — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 10:58:00 +0000

Gree has penned a publishing partnership with Gameloft and Ubisoft, announcing that a new card battling title from Gameloft and a supplementary Assassin's Creed 3 game will be launching exclusively on the company's platform.

Currently that platform is split between Gree's domestic operations and OpenFeint, which Gree acquired last April for $104 million. However, those two platforms will be amalgamated this summer to form a global presence.

It's on this combined platform which Gameloft's gang-based card battling game, code named Gang Domination, will be launched. The title will use a micro-transaction model, which provides Gree with the majority of its revenues, to allow players to buy cards, which will be selected at random.

Glitch Tank review | Edge

Game Industry News Pipe — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 10:31:08 +0000

Win or lose, your fate in this fascinating strategy game lies with the cards.

Glitch Tank sells itself as a ‘digital board game’ but it feels more like a new strain of sport. Its shuffling, awkward movements make playing it a strangely physical experience, and its delight in one-on-one battling means it can be a little too tartly competitive to be filed alongside Scrabble, Monopoly, or Talisman.

Naughty Dog: no immediate plans for Vita | Edge

Game Industry News Pipe — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 10:28:34 +0000

Uncharted studio Naughty Dog has insisted it currently has "no plans" to develop games for PS Vita, despite claims to the contrary from a Sony executive. Guy Longsworth, SVP of PlayStation brand marketing, was asked by Gametrailers if the likes of Media Molecule, Sony Santa Monica, Guerrilla and Naughty Dog would be developing for Sony's new handheld.

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?p=35317909#post35317909

Neogaf

Uncharted studio Naughty Dog has insisted it currently has "no plans" to develop games for PS Vita, despite claims to the contrary from a Sony executive.

Guy Longsworth, SVP of PlayStation brand marketing, was asked by Gametrailers if the likes of Media Molecule, Sony Santa Monica, Guerrilla and Naughty Dog would be developing for Sony's new handheld.

Opinion: Gaming opiate | Edge

Game Industry News Pipe — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 10:18:13 +0000

The social gaming sector shares some worrying parallels with drug dealing, says Leigh Alexander.

I can’t stop playing Zynga’s Empires & Allies on Facebook, despite the industry’s derision. Everyone made fun of PopCap for hooking soccer moms with widely copied match-three puzzlers, and we snickered at Nintendo’s absurdly titled Wii, wondering who in the world was going to buy such a thing. And when it comes to social games, the disdain is similarly virulent – even though, just like PopCap and Wii, it’s having the last laugh in the numbers game.

A third of PS3 owners keen on Vita – study | Edge

Game Industry News Pipe — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 09:38:46 +0000

Almost a third of PlayStation 3 owners are "seriously considering" buying PlayStation Vita. The finding comes from Playr2, which asked 1321 PS3 owners about Sony's new handheld, which will be on shelves tomorrow.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012-02-21-nearly-a-third-of-ps3-owners-seriously-considering-buying-vita-poll

Eurogamer

Almost a third of PlayStation 3 owners are "seriously considering" buying a PlayStation Vita.

The finding comes from Playr2, which asked 1321 PS3 owners about Sony's new handheld, which will be on shelves tomorrow.

Thirty-two per cent of respondents said they were "seriously considering" buying a Vita in the near future, according to Eurogamer. Twenty-two per cent of those intend to buy the system within a week of tomorrow's launch.

Remedy recoups Wake PC expenses in 48 hours

Game Industry News Pipe — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 09:09:00 +0000

Remedy's PC version of Alan Wake has recouped both its marketing and development spend in just 48 hours.

"We made it a priority to create the best PC version of the game we possibly could, as opposed to a sloppy port we ourselves would hate to play, and judging by the amount of encouragement and positive feedback that has been pouring in, that's really paid off!" said CEO Matias Myllyrinne in a thank you note to the game's fans.

"Rest assured that we are still listening to your requests and will maintain efforts to make necessary updates to the build now that it's been released."

Report: Seaman coming to 3DS | Edge

Game Industry News Pipe — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 08:49:49 +0000

Yoot Saito's Dreamcast pet sim Seaman is headed to 3DS, according to reports. Andriasang brings word from Japan's Nikkei, which in a feature claims Nintendo is looking to revive games from thirdparty publishers' back catalogue for 3DS, giving Seaman as an example.

http://andriasang.com/con012/seaman_3ds/

Andriasang

Yoot Saito's Dreamcast pet sim Seaman is headed to 3DS, according to reports.

Andriasang brings word from Japan's Nikkei, which in a feature claims Nintendo is looking to revive games from thirdparty publishers' back catalogue for 3DS, giving Seaman as an example.

Newell: "If we have to sell hardware we will"

Game Industry News Pipe — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 08:43:00 +0000

Valve co-founder and managing director Gabe Newell has given a candid assessment of the current hardware market, and revealed that if no one else will make innovative hardware, Valve will.

"If we have to sell hardware we will," he told Penny Arcade.

"We have no reason to believe we're any good at it, it's more we think that we need to continue to have innovation and if the only way to get these kind of projects started is by us going and developing and selling the hardware directly then that's what we'll do."

Jagex: Game Group demise is inevitable | Edge

Game Industry News Pipe — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 08:28:44 +0000

Mark Gerhard, founder of Runescape developer Jagex, believes that the closure of troubled UK retailer Game Group is inevitable. Speaking during a BAFTA-sponsored Q&A yesterday, reported by gamesindustry.biz, Gerhard said high street game retail takes too much money out of developers' pockets and would soon be looked on as a relic of the past.

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2012-02-20-jagex-physical-games-retail-10-years-from-extinction

gamesindustry.biz

Mark Gerhard, founder of Runescape developer Jagex, believes that the closure of troubled UK retailer Game Group is inevitable.

Speaking during a BAFTA-sponsored Q&A yesterday, reported by gamesindustry.biz, Gerhard said high street game retail takes too much money out of developers' pockets and would soon be looked on as a relic of the past.

The Scruffs: Return of the Duke | BigFish

Free Game Downloads Pipe — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 08:00:00 +0000

Find the Lost Regalia that will help Grandpa Scruff prove that he is the true Duke of Scrufford in The Scruffs 2: Return of the Duke! After discovering Grandpa's regal identity, you return to Scrufford with the quirky Scruff family. An evil impostor is preparing to become the next Duke, and it’s up to you to stop him. Thwart the impostor’s devious plans and help your family in The Scruffs 2: Return of the Duke!

Showtime for PlayStation Vita

Game Industry News Pipe — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 08:00:00 +0000

I meet with Sony's Shuhei Yoshida on the final day of the 2012 D.I.C.E. Summit in Las Vegas. In fact, it's the final hour, and the press room is being closed down around us. I've seen him here all week, fielding questions from a succession of games journalists, so I expect him to be a little tired at the least, bored at worst. It turns out he's the most animated I've ever seen him - maybe he's gone stir crazy from too much time in Vegas. He's clearly hyped for the impending launch of the Vita, but he's not spouting marketing fluff in my direction at all. When I open the conversation with some lightweight remarks about how it's a busy time for Sony, he jumps to the defence of the PlayStation 3, perhaps a hangover from a previous interview.

"PlayStation 3 is doing pretty well. If you look at the US market the Xbox 360 is doing extremely well so in comparison we may not look as good but looking at our numbers they're pretty good. In the US it's been the PS3's most successful year to date," he says. I have to admit it's refreshing for a format holder to even mention a competitor by name, let alone without me pushing for it. What comes next is even more surprising.

"When you go to a European event you feel like you're in a fantasy land," says Yoshida. "At GamesCom Sony has the biggest booths and week after week sales are better. I feel like time has slipped to PS2 or PSone days when we were doing really good. Working for PlayStation in Europe is much more fun than working for PlayStation in the States," he jokes. At least I think he's joking.

Jagex: Physical games retail gone within 10 years

Game Industry News Pipe — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 23:52:00 +0000

Jagex CEO Mark Gerhard believes that the decline and eventual closure of high-street retailer The Game Group is now inevitable.

Speaking as part of an expert panel at the BAFTA Question Time event, sponsored by GamesIndustry.biz, Gerhard stated that the efficiency with which the internet serves the modern consumer's needs - easy access to a wide range of content at lower prices - has started a process that will eventually eradicate physical retail for games.

"I think, 10 years out from now, we'll be talking about [physical] retail nostalgically, as a museum piece," he said. "I don't think there's much there that would give it a second life."

PC Alan Wake breaks even in two days | Edge

Game Industry News Pipe — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 16:56:13 +0000

The PC release of Alan Wake recouped its entire development and marketing budget in its first 48 hours on sale, developer Remedy Entertainment has revealed. The game was released for PC last Thursday, with the Xbox 360 version's DLC included, and it quickly shot to the top of the Steam charts.

http://forum.alanwake.com/showthread.php?p=141586#post141586

Alan Wake

The PC release of Alan Wake recouped its entire development and marketing budget in its first 48 hours on sale, developer Remedy has revealed.

The game was released for PC last Thursday, with the Xbox 360 version's DLC included, and it quickly shot to the top of the Steam charts.

Retro City Rampage confirmed for PS3 and Vita | Edge

Game Industry News Pipe — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 16:20:48 +0000

Retro City Rampage will be released for PlayStation 3 and PS Vita, developer Brian Provinciano has confirmed. The top-down, open-world game is a parody of classic games and their mechanics. Its release for Sony platforms is a surprise given that it was initially a WiiWare exclusive, and was later announced for Xbox Live Arcade.

http://blog.eu.playstation.com/2012/02/20/retro-city-rampage-coming-to-ps-vita-and-ps3

PlayStation Blog

Retro City Rampage will be released for PlayStation 3 and PS Vita, developer Brian Provinciano has confirmed.

The top-down, open-world game is a parody of classic games and their mechanics. Its release for Sony platforms is a surprise given that it was initially a WiiWare exclusive, and was later announced for Xbox Live Arcade.

Newell acknowledges Half-Life fan frustration | Edge

Game Industry News Pipe — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 15:30:57 +0000

Valve co-founder Gabe Newell has admitted that the company has a habit of keeping fans waiting for its games, but does so because it wants to avoid making promises it can't keep. Earlier this month 30,000 Steam users pledged to spend a weekend playing Half-Life 2 to signal their frustration at the prolonged wait for Half-Life 2: Episode 3, which was originally scheduled for release in 2007. In an interview with Penny Arcade, Newell explains the wait.

http://penny-arcade.com/report/editorial-article/valves-gabe-newell-talks-wearable-computers-rewarding-players-and-whether-w/1

Penny Arcade

Valve co-founder Gabe Newell has admitted that the company has a habit of keeping fans waiting for its games, but does so because it wants to avoid making promises it can't keep.

3DS sets new Japan sales record | Edge

Game Industry News Pipe — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 14:46:48 +0000

Nintendo's 3DS has set a new record for hardware sales in Japan, becoming the quickest system to reach five million sales. The glasses-free 3D handheld reached the five million mark within 52 weeks of its Japanese release on February 26 last year, according to Media Create data passed on by Andriasang.

http://andriasang.com/con00s/3ds_five_million/

Andriasang

Nintendo's 3DS has set a new record for hardware sales in Japan, becoming the quickest system to reach five million sales.

The glasses-free 3D handheld reached the five million mark within 52 weeks of its Japanese release on February 26 last year, according to Media Create data passed on by Andriasang.

The Making Of: Alan Wake | Edge

Game Industry News Pipe — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 14:42:48 +0000

Remedy’s game took five years to emerge from the darkness of development. The studio explains how it finally saw the light.

When Sam Lake was a kid, he spent his summer holidays on an apple farm in Raasepori in the south of Finland. One day, while exploring the rundown outbuildings, he stumbled across a treasure trove of junk. Among it was an old light switch. He called it his “clicker”.

Unity 3.5 released | Unity Technologies

Unity3D News Pipe — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 13:02:00 +0000

Last week, after a successful public beta, we shipped Unity 3.5. Thank you to the 50,000+ beta users who helped make this one of our best releases to date.

This free update represents another massive expansion of the capabilities of your favorite game engine. Some of the highlights include:

Completely redesigned particle system “Shuriken”: A lot more power and configurability at better performance with great new tools.
Another iteration of Umbra occlusion culling – delivering higher quality at much better baking speeds.
Brand new level of detail system – allowing you to easily tweak your runtime workload without compromising results.
New HDR and linear space lighting options – facilitating awesome visuals by giving you those all important tweakables.
Google Chrome Native Client deployment: Webplayers no longer require a plugin install to run in Google Chrome.
Built-in pathfinding and local navigation: Quickly bake a NavMesh in the editor and use it for player or AI navigation with runtime avoidance.

For a list of the more than 400 new features and improvements in Unity 3.5, check out the release notes.

Flash Public Preview

Even though 3.5 has shipped, we are continuing the public preview of our upcoming Flash Publishing license — all Unity 3.5 users can access this build target.

Spry Fox wary of social game addiction | Edge

Game Industry News Pipe — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 12:47:40 +0000

David Edery, CEO of Triple Town developer Spry Fox, recognises that one of social game development's biggest challenges is making players want to continue playing, and paying, for a game without becoming addicted. In an interview, we pointed out to Edery that the App Store description of iOS Triple Town emphasised its addictive qualities, and asked if the notion of social games locking players into monetised compulsion loops was something with which he was comfortable.

David Edery, CEO of Triple Town developer Spry Fox, recognises that one of social game development's biggest challenges is making players want to continue playing, and paying, for a game without becoming addicted.

Nintendo 3DS sells 5 million in Japan, sets record

Game Industry News Pipe — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 12:05:00 +0000

The latest data from Media Create showed that the Nintendo 3DS has now sold 5 million units in Japan, breaking records.

According to a chart created by Nintendo and featured on Andriasang, it only took the device 52 weeks to sell 5 million to consumers through Japanese retailers.

It managed to just beat Nintendo's previous handhelds, its predecessors the DS took 56 weeks, and the Game Boy Advance took 58.

Activision: we don’t blacklist journalists | Edge

Game Industry News Pipe — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 11:38:25 +0000

Activision has insisted that it "doesn't blacklist journalists" despite the owner of a French blog claiming the publisher severed all ties with him after he refused to remove a story about this year's Call Of Duty game. Speaking to Kotaku, Gameblog.fr editor Grégory Szriftgiser claimed that Activision requested that he take down a story about Call Of Duty: Black Ops 2, which was inadvertently revealed by Amazon France. When he declined, he was asked to reconsider bearing in mind "all the consequences this could lead to."

http://kotaku.com/5886237/reporter-activision-blacklisted-us-because-i-refused-to-pull-call-of-duty-sequel-story

Kotaku

Games within games: Hoarding | Edge

Game Industry News Pipe — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 11:36:57 +0000

Tont Coles on the value of cheese, mutilated remains and torture tools in Skyrim, Oblivion and Fallout 3.

This is the first in a new series of articles in which Tont Coles examines the imaginative play you can perform within games. Each month, he'll look at different ways players can stretch rules outside their formal designs.

Angry Birds Space announced | Edge

Game Industry News Pipe — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 11:11:38 +0000

Finnish studio Rovio has announced Angry Birds Space, a brand new game in its all-conquering franchise. On its website, the developer calls Angry Birds Space "a completely new game with innovative new gameplay, but with some of the familiar Angry Birds elements that fans already know and love - plus some surprises."

http://www.rovio.com/en/news/blog/133/angry-birds-space

Rovio

Finnish studio Rovio has announced Angry Birds Space, a brand new game in its all-conquering franchise.

On its website, the developer calls Angry Birds Space "a completely new game with innovative new gameplay, but with some of the familiar Angry Birds elements that fans already know and love - plus some surprises."

The game will launch for smartphones and at retail on March 22, with Rovio promising more details early next month.

LookRotation alternative | Unify Wiki

Unity3D News Pipe — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 10:16:14 +0000

Elecman:

//This is an alternative for Quaternion.LookRotation. Instead of aligning the forward and up vector of the game
//object with the input vectors, a custom direction can be used instead of the fixed forward and up vectors.
//destinationVector and destinationNormal are in world space.
//customForward and customUp are in object space.
//Usage: use destinationVector and destinationNormal as if you are using the default LookRotation function.
//Set customForward and customUp to the vectors you wish to use instead of the default forward and up vectors.
void lookRotationExtended(ref GameObject gameObjectInOut, Vector3 destinationVector, Vector3 destinationNormal, Vector3 customForward, Vector3 customUp){

//Set the rotation of the destination
Quaternion rotationA = Quaternion.LookRotation(destinationVector, destinationNormal);

//Set the rotation of the custom normal and up vectors.
//When using the default LookRotation function, this would be hard coded to the forward and up vector.
Quaternion rotationB = Quaternion.LookRotation(customForward, customUp);

//Calculate the rotation
gameObjectInOut.transform.rotation = rotationA * Quaternion.Inverse(rotationB);
}

Activision: We don’t blacklist journalists

Game Industry News Pipe — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 09:35:00 +0000

Activision has denied reports of blacklisting a European blog, and argued the situation was simply a misunderstanding.

"Activision doesn't blacklist journalists" a PR agency told GamesBeat on behalf of the company.

"We believe this was a misunderstanding and are working towards a resolution."

UFC Undisputed 3 tops UK chart | Edge

Game Industry News Pipe — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 09:25:36 +0000

THQ's mixed martial arts title UFC Undisputed 3 is the new UK all-formats number one. It's the publisher's first UK number one since last year's Homefront, with top spot secured at FIFA 12's expense despite sales of the EA football game climbing 21 per cent week on week.

THQ's mixed martial arts title UFC Undisputed 3 is the new UK all-formats number one.

It's the publisher's first UK number one since last year's Homefront, with top spot secured at FIFA 12's expense despite sales of the EA football game climbing 21 per cent week on week.

THQ secures timely UK no. 1 with UFC Undisputed 3

Game Industry News Pipe — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 09:24:00 +0000

THQ has taken the number one spot in the UK all format software chart, providing a glimmer of hope for the troubled publisher after a testing period.

It's the first top slot for the company since the launch of Homefront last year, despite not selling as well in its opening week as its predecessor, which only managed second place.

Undisputed is the only new entry in the week's top 40, but there has been plenty of movement with existing titles. Kingdoms of Amalur, which was last week's number one, has slipped out of the top ten to 12, after dropping 63 per cent of its sales. FIFA 12 is back to second from fifth, whilst Modern Warfare 3 is in third.

Mojang game jam raises $450,000 | Edge

Game Industry News Pipe — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 09:14:17 +0000

The Humble Bundle Mojam, a weekend-long game jam by Minecraft developer Mojang, has raised $458,207.95 for charity. The event, streamed live on Twitch TV, kicked off at 10am on Friday and ended last night. The theme and genre of the game were decided by public vote, with all those who donated to receive a copy of Catacomb Snatch, a "steampunk Egyptian-themed RTS shoot-em-up game".

http://www.humblebundle.com/

Humble Bundle

The Humble Bundle Mojam, a weekend-long game jam by Minecraft developer Mojang, has raised $458,207.95 for charity.

The event, streamed live on Twitch TV, kicked off at 10am on Friday and ended last night. The theme and genre of the game were decided by public vote, with all those who donated to receive a copy of Catacomb Snatch, a "steampunk Egyptian-themed RTS shoot-em-up game".

Dashboard update gives XBLIG a boost

Game Industry News Pipe — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 09:08:00 +0000

A new Xbox Live dashboard update has given its Indie Games category more visibility after recent criticisms from developers.

"As you've now noticed, the Xbox Live Marketplace was updated to change the way games are surfaced to customers," a Microsoft statement shown to Eurogamer.

"Microsoft is continually working to better organise our digital game content on the platform and your feedback played a part in that. Part of this new organisation means that Xbox Live Indie Games now has a tile on the top level of the marketplace right next to Xbox Live Arcade and Xbox Games on Demand."

Report: Sony kicks off 3G Vita deal in Japan | Edge

Game Industry News Pipe — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 08:45:18 +0000

Sony is telling Japanese retailers to offer a cashback deal on purchases of a 3G-enabled PlayStation Vita, according to reports. Andriasang reports that early last week Amazon began offering ¥2,000 (£16) to those that buy a 3G Vita and a game. It appears that it was designed not by Amazon, but Sony itself, with the company now telling retailers to offer the same deal from February 23.

http://andriasang.com/con00o/vita_cash_back/

Andriasang

Sony is telling Japanese retailers to offer a cashback deal on purchases of a 3G-enabled PlayStation Vita, according to reports.

Andriasang reports that early last week Amazon began offering ¥2,000 (£16) to those that buy a 3G Vita and a game. It appears that it was designed not by Amazon, but Sony itself, with the company now telling retailers to offer the same deal from February 23.

Schafer: Microsoft platforms facing talent exodus

Game Industry News Pipe — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 08:33:00 +0000

Double Fine's Tim Schafer has joined those calling for Microsoft to change its Xbox Live policies towards developers, or face a mass migration of talent.

"I like Sony and Microsoft, but those systems are closed and curated very closely and it costs a lot more money to go through that system, to patch a game," he told IndustryGamers, explaining the attraction of the App Store and Steam for indie developers.

"It makes me stressed out that if I put a game up there, I might not be able to patch it because it might cost too much money, whereas these more open platforms will let us manage our own price and our own updates. It's just a lot more appealing right now."

Microsoft improves Indie Game visibility | Edge

Game Industry News Pipe — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 08:23:22 +0000

Last week's Xbox 360 system update contained good news for indie developers by moving the Xbox Live Indie Games service to the top level of the Marketplace - but, for some reason, only in the United States. In a statement passed to Eurogamer and due to be posted on the AppHub Forums and XNA Community Blog, Microsoft confirms that it has acted on feedback from indie developers following the release of the Metro dashboard update in December, which buried XBLIG deep in the Xbox 360 menu system.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012-02-18-xbox-360-dash-update-gives-xblig-more-visibility

Eurogamer

Online games drive NetEase profits to $514 million

Game Industry News Pipe — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 08:22:00 +0000

Chinese internet services company NetEase has recorded full-year profits of $513.9 million (RMB 3.2 billion), with sales of $1.2 billion (RMB 7.5 billion).

The majority of sales were from online games, with $1 billion in revenues attributed to self-developed titles Tianxia III and Ghost, Fantasy Westward Journey and Tang Dynasty Online, as well as Blizzard's World of Warcraft.

"Our approach to technology innovation and product diversification to satisfy user demand is the core of our 2012 growth strategy," offered William Ding, CEO of NetEase.

Howard: Skyrim bug issue "not nearly as bad as it seems"

Game Industry News Pipe — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 08:16:00 +0000

Bethesda game director Todd Howard has spoken about the bugs affecting Skyrim, particularly on PS3, admitting that many gamers saw problems but that the trouble was "not nearly as bad as it seems".

Speaking to Industry Gamers, Howard said that the 1.4 patch, released at the weekend, should solve many problems experienced by gamers, but that many issues were impossible to predict.

"Statistically, it is not nearly as bad as it seems," says Howard. "Meaning, by all the internal and external data, this is our most solid release."

IP Laws and the Games Industry: What Next?

Game Industry News Pipe — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 08:00:00 +0000

The games industry has an uneasy history when it comes to intellectual property law reform and piracy. Despite the industry's rapid growth over the last few years, it has tended to stay out of the limelight compared to the film and music industries when it comes to debates about these difficult topics. As a result, previous waves of laws on or around this subject, from the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act in the early Noughties to the UK Digital Economy Act in 2010, were passed with relatively little (organised) input from the games industry.

However, IP reform and piracy have risen to near the top of the agenda for the games industry in the space of just a few months, following the rise and (partial) fall of three acronyms: SOPA, PIPA and now ACTA.

There was a torrent of discussion about these proposed laws at all levels of the industry: consumers, developers, publishers and the industry bodies. Clearly, it was in part influenced by the perception that these are draconian laws that would harm the industry's future prospects or very existence. But more than that, they arrive at a time when the industry is just beginning to become aware of its legislative muscle, while the other creative industries have been using theirs for years.

The Surprising Adventures of Munchausen | BigFish

Free Game Downloads Pipe — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 08:00:00 +0000

The Heart of the Kingdom has been destroyed and now it’s up to Munchausen to save the day in The Surprising Adventures of Munchausen! With the light and prosperity of his kingdom gone, the king has no choice but to marry his daughter to an unknown stranger in exchange for a huge sum of money. Sensing the stranger’s evil, she writes to Munchausen who must now stop the wedding in The Surprising Adventures of Munchausen!

How to Submit content to the Unity Asset Store | Unity Technologies

Unity3D News Pipe — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 23:25:54 +0000

UPDATED!
The above video is the updated version from 19th February 2012.

Some of you have gotten in touch with us, asking for a tutorial on what is required to submit your content to the Asset Store. So we have made you the video above on the current procedure for submitting content to us. Even better news is that we are currently improving the procedure to make things even easier for you to get your content to us – and rest assured that when we change the procedure you’ll see yet another video tutorial showing you exactly what we need you to do. Why not have a go at submitting something you’ve made? Who knows? you could be the next this guy.

The video also mentions template files for the key images, which you can download from the following URL -

http://files.unity3d.com/will/keyimages.zip

For reference the sizes of key images should be as follows -

Big: 860×389
Small: 200×258
Icon: 128×128

Otherworld: Spring of Shadows | BigFish

Free Game Downloads Pipe — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 08:00:00 +0000

Use a mystical locket to explore a magical world and save a young girl in Other world: Spring of Shadows! After buying a quaint house in the country side, you embark on an incredible adventure. With help from magical creatures, find and save Fiona before it's too late! Find the menacing shadow that took Fiona and return her to our world. Solve inventive puzzles and discover secrets in Otherworld: Spring of Shadows, a fun Hidden Object Puzzle Adventure game.

Here’s why Amazon gets all my money and more | GPN

Indie Developer News Pipe — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 17:40:12 +0000

I’ve stopped buying books in physical format (can make exception on Terry Pratchett). I only buy books in digital format. And Amazon is doing superb job. Here’s my reason for buying kindle books only from them:

I really like Kindle app. It’s hassle free. I can get samples to ipod or ipad or to my computer and sync between devices. I can buy stuff for ipad, read it in ipod and check library in PC. It’s just super cool.
Kindle app user interface is good. Has everything I need and more.
I don’t need night lamp anymore. Ipod touch is great device with proper backlight, so night time I read my kindle books using this tiny device. It’s convenient.
The catalogue is huge: I can get the book I want in 76% of the cases. I do wish people would transform their old books to kindle formats, and have sent authors info on this. Maybe one day I get 100% of the books via kindle store.
Ok prices. Sure, the prices could be always lower than paperback versions, which is bit like slapping my face… but I don’t complain. It’s not that big price difference anyway. Convenience is what matters me most.
My bookshelf is always with me, even when I’m offline. (As long as I have battery left…)
My digital book library takes heckofa less space than my physical lib.
I don’t know if there’s DRM. For once, I’m happy to be a customer who can buy stuff without hassling with visible DRM. For example, if Amazon goes down (it doesn’t, just stating an example), I can still access my books. If my network connection goes down, I can access my books.

I simply don’t have any reason not to buy physical books (except for Terry Pratchett, since there’s no kindle digital Finnish version available – and for the fact that the hardcover versions look good on my house, they are decoration too) and thus I’m buying only Kindle books.

They have made pretty close to everything right (small thing with the book prices that should be lower for digital versions compared to physical and second minor thing is that I’d like to fetch & download book samples via kindle app), and totally got my money.

Also, I’ve spent more money on books than ever before (I’ve been a regular book buyer always), for your information. That means not only they get all the money I spend in books… but they’ve actually managed to increase the amount of stuff I spend on books.

The bottom line is that… I feel like I’m treated as a respected customer. I get stuff the way I like in nice format with decent price.

That makes it easy to buy stuff from them.

There’s plenty of lessons here for other industries as well.

Folder Paths Win Mac | Unify Wiki

Unity3D News Pipe — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 10:41:55 +0000

Tenebrous:

Here is a list of the system paths you can retrieve using System.Environment.GetFolderPath.

For example:

System.Environment.GetFolderPath( System.Environment.SpecialFolder.ApplicationData )

{| class="wikitable" cellpadding='2'
{{OSFolder| id=0 | name=Desktop | osx1068=/Users/yourname/Desktop | win7=C:SERS\YOURNAME\DESKTOP }}
{{OSFOLDER| ID=2 | NAME=PROGRAMS | WIN7=C:SERS\YOURNAME\APPDATA\ROAMING\MICROSOFT\WINDOWS\START MENU\PROGRAMS }}
{{OSFOLDER| ID=5 | NAME=PERSONAL | OSX1068=/USERS/YOURNAME | WIN7=C:SERS\YOURNAME\DOCUMENTS }}
{{OSFOLDER| ID=5 | NAME=MYDOCUMENTS | OSX1068=/USERS/YOURNAME | WIN7=C:SERS\YOURNAME\DOCUMENTS }}
{{OSFOLDER| ID=6 | NAME=FAVORITES | OSX1068=/USERS/YOURNAME/LIBRARY/FAVORITES | WIN7=C:SERS\YOURNAME\FAVORITES }}
{{OSFOLDER| ID=7 | NAME=STARTUP | WIN7=C:SERS\YOURNAME\APPDATA\ROAMING\MICROSOFT\WINDOWS\START MENU\PROGRAMS\STARTUP }}
{{OSFOLDER| ID=8 | NAME=RECENT | WIN7=C:SERS\YOURNAME\APPDATA\ROAMING\MICROSOFT\WINDOWS\RECENT }}
{{OSFOLDER| ID=9 | NAME=SENDTO | WIN7=C:SERS\YOURNAME\APPDATA\ROAMING\MICROSOFT\WINDOWS\SENDTO }}
{{OSFOLDER| ID=11 | NAME=STARTMENU | WIN7=C:SERS\YOURNAME\APPDATA\ROAMING\MICROSOFT\WINDOWS\START MENU }}
{{OSFOLDER| ID=13 | NAME=MYMUSIC | OSX1068=/USERS/YOURNAME/MUSIC | WIN7=C:SERS\YOURNAME\MUSIC }}
{{OSFOLDER| ID=16 | NAME=DESKTOPDIRECTORY | OSX1068=/USERS/YOURNAME/DESKTOP | WIN7=C:SERS\YOURNAME\DESKTOP }}
{{OSFOLDER| ID=17 | NAME=MYCOMPUTER }}
{{OSFOLDER| ID=21 | NAME=TEMPLATES | OSX1068=/USERS/YOURNAME/TEMPLATES | WIN7=C:SERS\YOURNAME\APPDATA\ROAMING\MICROSOFT\WINDOWS\TEMPLATES }}
{{OSFOLDER| ID=26 | NAME=APPLICATIONDATA | OSX1068=/USERS/YOURNAME/.CONFIG | WIN7=C:SERS\YOURNAME\APPDATA\ROAMING }}
{{OSFOLDER| ID=28 | NAME=LOCALAPPLICATIONDATA | OSX1068=/APPLICATIONS/UNITY/MONODEVELOP.APP/CONTENTS/MACOS/../FRAMEWORKS/MONO.FRAMEWORK/VERSIONS/CURRENT/SHARE | WIN7=C:SERS\YOURNAME\APPDATAocal }}
{{osfolder| id=32 | name=internetcache | osx1068=/users/yourname/library/caches | win7=c:SERS\YOURNAME\APPDATAocal\microsoft\windows\temporary internet files }}
{{osfolder| id=33 | name=cookies | win7=c:SERS\YOURNAME\APPDATA\ROAMING\MICROSOFT\WINDOWS\COOKIES }}
{{OSFOLDER| ID=34 | NAME=HISTORY | WIN7=C:SERS\YOURNAME\APPDATAocal\microsoft\windows\history }}
{{osfolder| id=35 | name=commonapplicationdata | osx1068=/usr/share | win7=c:\programdata }}
{{osfolder| id=37 | name=system | win7=c:\windows\system32 }}
{{osfolder| id=38 | name=programfiles | osx1068=/applications | win7=c:\program files
''or'' c:\program files (x86) }}
{{osfolder| id=39 | name=mypictures | osx1068=/users/yourname/pictures | win7=c:SERS\YOURNAME\PICTURES }}
{{OSFOLDER| ID=43 | NAME=COMMONPROGRAMFILES | WIN7=C:\PROGRAM FILES\COMMON FILES<BR/>''OR'' C:\PROGRAM FILES (X86)\COMMON FILES }}
|}

=CODE=

==STAND-ALONE==

<SYNTAXHIGHLIGHT LANG="CSHARP">
USING SYSTEM;

CLASS TEST
{
STATIC INT MAIN(STRING[] ARGV)
{
VAR NAMES = ENUM.GETNAMES(TYPEOF(ENVIRONMENT.SPECIALFOLDER));
VAR VALUES = ENUM.GETVALUES(TYPEOF(ENVIRONMENT.SPECIALFOLDER));
FOR(INT I = 0; I < NAMES.LENGTH; ++I)
CONSOLE.WRITELINE("{0} {1}: {2}", (INT)VALUES.GETVALUE(I), NAMES[I], ENVIRONMENT.GETFOLDERPATH((ENVIRONMENT.SPECIALFOLDER)VALUES.GETVALUE(I)));

RETURN 0;
}
}
</SYNTAXHIGHLIGHT>

<BR/>

==INSIDE UNITY==

<SYNTAXHIGHLIGHT LANG="CSHARP">
VAR NAMES = SYSTEM.ENUM.GETNAMES( TYPEOF( SYSTEM.ENVIRONMENT.SPECIALFOLDER ) );
VAR VALUES = SYSTEM.ENUM.GETVALUES( TYPEOF( SYSTEM.ENVIRONMENT.SPECIALFOLDER ) );
FOR( INT I = 0; I < NAMES.LENGTH; ++I )
DEBUG.LOG( (INT)VALUES.GETVALUE( I ) + " " + NAMES[I] + ": " + SYSTEM.ENVIRONMENT.GETFOLDERPATH( (SYSTEM.ENVIRONMENT.SPECIALFOLDER)VALUES.GETVALUE( I ) ) );
</SYNTAXHIGHLIGHT>

<BR/>

White Haven Mysteries | BigFish

Free Game Downloads Pipe — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 08:00:00 +0000

After waking up in an abandoned building, you find that you’ve been drugged and cannot remember who you are! Find the antidote before it’s too late in White Haven Mysteries! As a mysterious man taunts you with his experiments, you must use your wits to figure out your identity and figure out where you are. Find Hidden Objects in chilling scenes, pick apart puzzles, and make it to safety in White Haven Mysteries!

White Haven Mysteries | BigFish

Free Game Downloads Pipe — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 08:00:00 +0000

RenderTexture Free | Unify Wiki

Unity3D News Pipe — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 22:41:08 +0000

Berenger: Creation of RenderTextureFree page

== Description ==

Simulate a render texture by copying what is displayed on screen into a texture, GUI included. A Texture.Apply() is performed, which is extremely slow, so it is a bad idea to capture the screen every frames.

== Usage ==

Attach the following script to the object receiving the texture.

using UnityEngine;
using System.Collections;

public class RTtest : MonoBehaviour
{
public float refresh = 1f;

// Update is called once per frame
void Start (){
InvokeRepeating( "SimulateRenderTexure", 0f, refresh );
}

void SimulateRenderTexure(){
renderer.material.mainTexture = RenderTextureFree.Capture();
}
}

== RenderTextureFree.cs ==

using UnityEngine;
using System.Collections;

///

/// Simulate a RenderTexture. The process need a Texture.Apply, which takes a lot of time,
/// so don't use this every frames.
///
/// by Berenger Mantoue, www.berengermantoue.fr
///
///

public class RenderTextureFree
{
private static Texture2D tex2D;
private static Texture tex;

// Return the entire screen in a texture
public static Texture Capture(){ return Capture( 0, 0, 1, 1 ); }
// Return part of the screen in a texture.
public static Texture Capture( Rect area ){ return Capture( area.x, area.y, area.width, area.height ); }
// Return part of the screen in a texture. (0,0) is top left rect, (1,1) is the bottom right
public static Texture Capture( float x, float y, float width, float height )
{
x = Mathf.Clamp01(x);
y = Mathf.Clamp01(y);
width = Mathf.Clamp01(width);
height = Mathf.Clamp01(height);

tex2D = tex2D ?? new Texture2D(Screen.width, Screen.height, TextureFormat.RGB24, false);
tex2D.ReadPixels( new Rect(Screen.width * x, Screen.height * y, Screen.width * width, Screen.height * height),
Mathf.RoundToInt(Screen.width * x), Mathf.RoundToInt(Screen.height * y),
false);
tex2D.Apply(); // That's the heavy part, it takes a lot of time.
tex = tex2D;

return tex;
}
}

Transparent Cutout Soft Edge Unlit Texture Blend | Unify Wiki

Unity3D News Pipe — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 18:51:41 +0000

Sahilramani:

==Description==
[[File:Blend0.png|thumb|_Blend=0]]
[[File:Blend5.png|thumb|_Blend=0.5]]
[[File:Blend1.png|thumb|_Blend=1]]
Modified Transparent/Cutout/SoftEdgeUnlit shader to include blending between two different textures given a blend factor.

==Usage==
The "_Cutoff" variable specifies the base alpha cutoff, just as it does in the original shader.

The "_Blend" variable specifies the blend factor, while "_Texture1" and "_Texture2" specify the two textures to be blended.

Note that when _Blend=0, _Texture1 will be selected and when _Blend=1, _Texture2 will be selected.

==More==

[[Category: Unity 3.x shaders]]
[[Category: Cg shaders]]
[[Category: Transparent]]
[[Category: Unlit]]
[[Category: Blending]]

NOTE: The original shader is part of the Unity default shaders. The credits for those belong to the respective authors. I have merely added the ability to blend between two textures.

==Shader Files==

Shader "Custom/TransparentCutoutSoftEdgeBlendedUnlit" {
Properties {
_Color ("Main Color", Color) = (1, 1, 1, 1)
_Cutoff ("Base Alpha cutoff", Range (0,.9)) = .5
_Blend ("Blend", Range (0, 1) ) = 0.5
_Texture1 ("Texture 1", 2D) = ""
_Texture2 ("Texture 2", 2D) = ""
}

SubShader {
Tags { "Queue"="AlphaTest" "IgnoreProjector"="True" "RenderType"="TransparentCutout" }
Lighting off

// Render both front and back facing polygons.
Cull Off

// first pass:
// render any pixels that are more than [_Cutoff] opaque
Pass {
CGPROGRAM
#pragma vertex vert
#pragma fragment frag

#include "UnityCG.cginc"

struct appdata_t {
float4 vertex : POSITION;
float4 color : COLOR;
float2 texcoord : TEXCOORD0;
};

struct v2f {
float4 vertex : POSITION;
float4 color : COLOR;
float2 texcoord : TEXCOORD0;
};

sampler2D _Texture1;
sampler2D _Texture2;
float4 _Texture1_ST;
float4 _Texture2_ST;
float _Cutoff;
float _Blend;

v2f vert (appdata_t v)
{
v2f o;
o.vertex = mul(UNITY_MATRIX_MVP, v.vertex);
o.color = v.color;
o.texcoord = TRANSFORM_TEX(v.texcoord, _Texture1);
return o;
}

float4 _Color;
half4 frag (v2f i) : COLOR
{
half4 col = lerp(tex2D(_Texture1, i.texcoord),tex2D(_Texture2, i.texcoord), _Blend);
clip(col.a - _Cutoff);
return col;
}
ENDCG
}

// Second pass:
// render the semitransparent details.
Pass {
Tags { "RequireOption" = "SoftVegetation" }

// Dont write to the depth buffer
ZWrite off

// Set up alpha blending
Blend SrcAlpha OneMinusSrcAlpha

CGPROGRAM
#pragma vertex vert
#pragma fragment frag

#include "UnityCG.cginc"

struct appdata_t {
float4 vertex : POSITION;
float4 color : COLOR;
float2 texcoord : TEXCOORD0;
};

struct v2f {
float4 vertex : POSITION;
float4 color : COLOR;
float2 texcoord : TEXCOORD0;
};

sampler2D _Texture1;
sampler2D _Texture2;
float4 _Texture1_ST;
float4 _Texture2_ST;
float _Cutoff;
float _Blend;

v2f vert (appdata_t v)
{
v2f o;
o.vertex = mul(UNITY_MATRIX_MVP, v.vertex);
o.color = v.color;
o.texcoord = TRANSFORM_TEX(v.texcoord, _Texture1);
return o;
}

float4 _Color;
half4 frag (v2f i) : COLOR
{
half4 col = lerp(tex2D(_Texture1, i.texcoord),tex2D(_Texture2, i.texcoord), _Blend);
clip(-(col.a - _Cutoff));
return col;
}
ENDCG
}
}

SubShader {
Tags { "IgnoreProjector"="True" "RenderType"="TransparentCutout" }
Lighting off

// Render both front and back facing polygons.
Cull Off

// first pass:
// render any pixels that are more than [_Cutoff] opaque
Pass {
AlphaTest Greater [_Cutoff]
SetTexture [_Texture1] {
constantColor [_Color]
combine texture * constant, texture * constant
}
}

// Second pass:
// render the semitransparent details.
Pass {
Tags { "RequireOption" = "SoftVegetation" }

// Dont write to the depth buffer
ZWrite off

// Only render pixels less or equal to the value
AlphaTest LEqual [_Cutoff]

// Set up alpha blending
Blend SrcAlpha OneMinusSrcAlpha

SetTexture [_Texture1] {
constantColor [_Color]
Combine texture * constant, texture * constant
}
}
}

}

--[[User:Sahilramani|Sahil Ramani]] 10:51, 17 February 2012 (PST)

Starbreeze confirms layoffs | Edge

Game Industry News Pipe — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 17:00:35 +0000

Swedish developer Starbreeze Studios has confirmed 25 staff have been laid off after the completion of Syndicate for publisher EA. The company also confirmed to gamesindustry.biz that Peter Tornquist is to resign from the board of directors, and will not be replaced.

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2012-02-17-25-jobs-cut-at-starbreeze-following-syndicate-completion

Gamesindustry.biz

Swedish developer Starbreeze Studios has confirmed 25 staff have been laid off after the completion of Syndicate for publisher EA.

The company also confirmed to gamesindustry.biz that Peter Tornquist is to resign from the board of directors, and will not be replaced.

Hutch Games: App Store is a democratising situation

Game Industry News Pipe — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 16:50:00 +0000

The team behind indie start up Hutch Games have shared the decision making process that saw its gang of five developers leave Sony to develop iOS titles independently.

"We had had a project cancellation," art director Whill Whitaker told Eurogamer.

"It was an inciting incident. It was just very exciting for us to realise we could do something on Unity. The App Store allowing you to self-publish is a very democratising situation. We were all motivated to take accountability for our own destiny. It was a very exciting thing to try out."

Talking Spry Fox | Edge

Game Industry News Pipe — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 16:41:08 +0000

Part two of our interview with the Triple Town dev, including why indies are fundamental to social networks and why consoles are scary.

This is the second part of our interview with CEO of Triple Town developer Spry Fox, David Edery, about his studio's fortunes.

We discuss Triple Town's Playdom deal: "We’re passionate about staying small and making interesting innovative games and not constantly feel the pressure to lay off employees anytime something goes wrong."

New sales team for Thumbstar

Game Industry News Pipe — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 16:16:00 +0000

Thumbstar Games has appointed two new executives. Tony Fitzgerald will act as sales manager while Phil Brannelly will take the role of marketing manager.

"The pace of growth at Thumbstar continues and both Tony and Phil bring many years of experience into the fold," said CEO Gareth Edmondson.

"That sort of experience is priceless for any company, such as ours, with big ambitions. They are a welcome addition to the team."

UKIE calls for relaxed crowdfunding control | Edge

Game Industry News Pipe — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 15:53:59 +0000

UKIE has called on government to relax regulation on crowdfunding to improve access to finance for independent developers. Currently, UK legislation and regulation forbids return-based investment, meaning UK developers could not raise funds for a project and promise investors a share of the sales proceeds.

http://ukie.org.uk/content/ukie-crowd-funding-report-proposal-facilitate-crowd-funding-uk-february-2012

UKIE

UK trade association UKIE has called on government to relax regulation on crowdfunding to improve access to finance for independent developers.

Currently, UK legislation and regulation forbids return-based investment, meaning UK developers could not raise funds for a project and promise investors a share of the sales proceeds. It's designed to prevent investors unwittingly getting sucked in to pyramid or Ponzi schemes, but UKIE believes the rise of crowdfunding means a lighter touch is required.

25 jobs cut at Starbreeze following Syndicate completion

Game Industry News Pipe — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 15:26:00 +0000

Swedish developer Starbreeze is cutting 25 jobs following the completion of Syndicate for publisher Electronic Arts.

Board member Peter Tornquist will resign from Starbreeze's board with no replacement planned.

"It is sad that we are forced to make staff cutbacks affecting employees. But we have to reduce staff after the final delivery of the Syndicate," offered Mikael Nermark, CEO of Starbreeze.

Boost for GAME as it secures official Vita launch

Game Industry News Pipe — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 15:19:00 +0000

Troubled retail chain GAME should see a rise in hardware sales next week, as it hosts the official launch of Sony's new handheld, the PlayStation Vita.

GAME's Oxford Street branch will be the location for the official midnight launch, complete with a signing session with WipEout 2048 developers and goody bags. The lucky gamer at the head of the queue will receive a year's supply of Vita titles. PlayStation Vita Rooms will also host a party for the queuing fans.

Across the country other flagship GAME and Gamestation stores will open at midnight on February 21.

Monolith investigating Gotham City Impostors bug | Edge

Game Industry News Pipe — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 15:11:26 +0000

Monolith says it is doing everything in its power to fix a bug in Gotham City Impostors that is completely wiping players' stats. A member of the studio's community management team started a thread on the game's official forums last week, asking those affected to post details of the problem. At the time of writing the thread spans 71 pages.

http://www.gothamcityimpostors.com/forums/showthread.php/4704-Stats-resetting-Let-us-know-more-here!?s=9bb3b6d8972f980113e5abce0be80e6a

Gotham City Impostors

Monolith says it is doing everything in its power to fix a bug in Gotham City Impostors that is completely wiping players' stats.

A member of the studio's community management team started a thread on the game's official forums last week, asking those affected to post details of the problem. At the time of writing the thread spans 71 pages.

Opinion: Should tweets be taken so seriously? | Edge

Game Industry News Pipe — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 14:42:40 +0000

As Notch calls for us to stop taking his tweets as fact, is it time the media stopped sourcing news from Twitter?

Earlier this week, the unthinkable happened: Minecraft creator Markus "Notch" Persson got annoyed about Twitter.

Like it or not, the social network has become a prime source of news; a trend that is far from specific to the gaming press, but when one of the most open and charismatic developers in the business has so publicly bristled at his tweets being reported by gaming media, it warrants another look.

Unite 12 to be held in Amsterdam

Game Industry News Pipe — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 14:40:00 +0000

The 6th annual Unite developer conference will take place in Amsterdam on August 22 to 24 this year.

The event is staged by Unity Technologies to give its growing community of developers a venue to meet and share ideas. However, previous locations like Montreal and San Francisco have made it difficult for the engine's European developers to attend.

"This is the best opportunity for the whole Unity team to interact with all of the developers that use the product we work so hard to create," said CEO David Helgason in a statement.

PlayStation business feels pressure to perform for Sony Corp

Game Industry News Pipe — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 12:46:00 +0000

The PlayStation business is under renewed pressure to perform for Sony Corporation in a year when the company is expecting to make a ¥220 billion ($2.9 billion) loss.

PlayStation's Worldwide Studios boss Shuhei Yoshida admitted there's a renewed emphasis on the division to perform, but the group is also motivated by the leadership of new Sony CEO Kaz Hirai and his years of experience in the games market.

"I'll be remiss if I say they won't be because we're part of the big Sony corporation. But when you listen carefully to the announcements by Kaz Hirai, he clearly said that Sony going forward has a two pillar business. We have a really strong vertical integration, one is the digital imaging, with digital and video cameras and the other is games," Yoshida told GamesIndustry.biz.

The Friday Game: Super Samurai Sweeper | Edge

Game Industry News Pipe — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 12:11:22 +0000

Minesweeper receives a very honourable reworking in today's free game showcase.

This Friday, you owe it to yourself to spend you lunchtime playing Nerdook Productions' Super Samurai Sweeper. It’s a feisty blend of the old and the new. It’s clever and pretty and surprisingly deep.

Out There: Martin Amis is a great game writer | Edge

Game Industry News Pipe — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 10:55:48 +0000

Columnist position in Edge open for the master of "the new unpleasantness", plus taking the Avatar Machine for a spin.

If you only read one (other) article today, make it this account of Martin Amis' fabled book on arcade game culture, Invasion Of The Space Invaders.

Sony bringing Move SDK Move.Me to UK

Game Industry News Pipe — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 10:04:00 +0000

Sonyhas released Move.Me, the SDK for its Move motion controllers, in Europe and the UK after a successful trial in the US.

Move.Me will enable users to create applications using Move via a PC, much in the same way that Microsoft's Kinect SDK did. However, Sony has already declared its intent to make Move even more flexible and hackable than Kinect, something which it hopes will appeal to academics, researchers and programmers alike.

"Move.me is already being used by various universities in North America in cutting edge physical therapy and creative design projects," said SCEE's head of academic development and partnerships Maria Stukoff.

SOE launches fifth G.I.R.L. US design competition

Game Industry News Pipe — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 10:00:00 +0000

Sony Entertainment Online has opened submissions for its fifth Gamers in Real Life (G.I.R.L.) Game Design Competition, designed to promote and inspire American women with hopes of working in the industry.

"The goal of G.I.R.L. has always been of opportunity, education and recruitment to get more women into the gaming industry," said SOE's Laura Naviaux.

"Over the last few years, we have been nothing short of impressed with the hundreds of amazing submissions from talented students nationwide. Now in our fifth year, we can't wait to see the creativity that comes out of the G.I.R.L. program."

Kotick joins Coca-Cola board | Edge

Game Industry News Pipe — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 09:18:08 +0000

Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick has been appointed to the board of directors at The Coca-Cola Company. Kotick, 59, was a member of the Yahoo board for five years until 2008. In addition to his seat on the Coca-Cola board, he has also been appointed to the company's management development committee.

http://www.thecoca-colacompany.com/dynamic/press_center/2012/02/board-elects-robert-a-kotick-as-director.html

The Coca-Cola Company

Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick has been appointed to the board of directors at The Coca-Cola Company.

Kotick, 59, was a member of the Yahoo board for five years until 2008. In addition to his seat on the Coca-Cola board, he has also been appointed to the company's management development committee.

Linden Lab acquires LittleTextPeople

Game Industry News Pipe — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 09:14:00 +0000

Linden Lab, the company behind Second Life, has acquired game development studio LittleTextPeople.

The acquisition will provide Linden Lab with the talent and technology to support the launch of "several new standalone products" in 2012.

"LittleTextPeople brings a depth and breadth of AI and interactive story development expertise that is a great fit for Linden Lab as we launch multiple new products," said Linden Lab CEO Rod Humble.

NPD director joins EEDAR

Game Industry News Pipe — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 09:08:00 +0000

Richard Ow has ended his 13 year career with The NPD Group to join research company EEDAR as vice president of sales and strategy.

"EEDAR has made an enormous impact on the way research data is utilised throughout the video game industry" said Ow.

"This new role offers a unique opportunity to apply my industry knowledge and expertise to a rapidly growing organisation. EEDAR is highly aligned with my passion for solving client problems in efficient and actionable ways. I am eager to begin working with publishers, developers, retailers, and other service providers to reduce their risk exposure and increase their overall profitability on a per title or portfolio basis."

Drew Karpyshyn announces retirement from games writing

Game Industry News Pipe — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 09:05:00 +0000

Bioware writer Drew Karpyshyn, who worked on games including the Mass Effect series and SWtoR, has announced that he's leaving both Bioware and the industry itself in order to work exclusively on his novels.

Currently in the works from Karpyshyn are an Old Republic novel and the first instalment of his own fantasy series, dubbed Children of Fire.

In a post on his personal blog, Karpyshyn spoke about his respect for the team at Bioware, as well as his excitement at the prospect of enjoying their games as a pure consumer.

Guilty Gear returns | Edge

Game Industry News Pipe — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 08:56:02 +0000

The Guilty Gear series is to return to Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and arcade, developer Arc System Works has revealed. Andriasang brings word from this week's AOU Amusement Expo in Japan that Arc is, unusually, to port a console game to the arcade, in this case Guilty Gear XX Accent Core Plus, released for PlayStation 2 in 2008.

http://andriasang.com/con004/guilty_gear_home/

Andriasang

The Guilty Gear series is to return to Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and arcade, developer Arc System Works has revealed.

Andriasang brings word from this week's AOU Amusement Expo in Japan that Arc is, unusually, to port a console game to the arcade, in this case Guilty Gear XX Accent Core Plus, released for PlayStation 2 in 2008.

Bobby Kotick joins board of directors at Coca-Cola

Game Industry News Pipe — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 08:48:00 +0000

Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick has joined the board of directors at Coca-Cola.

Kotick purchased a stake in Activision in 1990. He was elected CEO in 1991, and is widely regarded as the driving force behind its subsequent rise to become the industry's most profitable publisher.

"Bobby brings an entrepreneurial mindset and a high level of financial literacy and digital knowledge to our company," said Coca-Cola CEO and president Muhtar Kent in a statement.

New CEO, platform and IP for K2 Network

Game Industry News Pipe — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 08:45:00 +0000

Bjorn Book-Larsson has been appointed as the new CEO of K2 Network and will head up a management reshuffle, after free-to-play company co-founder Joshua Hong stepped down from the role.

"This was a very amicable and planned management transition," CMO Rahul Sandil told Gamasutra.

"[The board] decided that it was time to bring a new perspective to the company," added Sandil, "given the fact that the industry is changing very significantly."

Sony completes Sony Ericsson buyout | Edge

Game Industry News Pipe — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 08:39:44 +0000

Sony has completed the buyout of its partnership with Sony Ericsson. The deal, announced in October, nets Ericsson €1.05 billion (£870m) in return for its 50 per cent stake in the partnership, which began in 2001. Sony has completed the buyout of its partnership with Sony Ericsson. The deal, announced in October, nets Ericsson €1.05 billion (£870m) in return for its 50 per cent stake in the partnership, which began in 2001.

Sony has completed the buyout of its partnership with Sony Ericsson.

The deal, announced in October, nets Ericsson €1.05 billion (£870m) in return for its 50 per cent stake in the partnership, which began in 2001.

Fight My Monster nets $2.1m seed funding

Game Industry News Pipe — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 08:39:00 +0000

Online card trading game Fight My Monster has secured $2.1 million seed investment led by Greycroft Partners, with additional investment from Klout, Maker Studios and Buddy Media.

Founded by Dominic Williams, Fight My Monster claims almost one million players across the UK and North America, targeting the under-12 age group.

"We're incredibly impressed by the stellar team behind Fight My Monster. Not only have they built a game which has taken the UK by storm on the sheer strength of product design and execution but they've also done it on a shoestring budget," said Paul Bricault of Greycroft Partners.

UKIE calls for relaxation of crowd-funding regulations

Game Industry News Pipe — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 08:28:00 +0000

UKIE has issued a report calling on the government to reduce the restrictions and regulations surrounding crowd-funding in the UK, arguing that it could prove invaluable for the development of not only the gaming industry, but many others besides.

Currently, UK financial regulations exist which are intended to protect consumers and investors from dubious methods of investment such as pyramid or Ponzi schemes. However, crowd-funding is also covered by this legislation - something which UKIE feels should change.

Whilst the report, available in full here, calls for some restrictions to be loosened, it does recognise the need for limitations on the system, preventing investors from would-be scams and over-exposure.

A Breakout Year for the Irish Games Industry

Game Industry News Pipe — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 08:22:00 +0000

This week is an important week for the Irish industry. Like many other countries, computer games often struggling to gain official recognition as a distinct sector of the economy. But Ireland this week drew an important definition to make the digital games industry an official cornerstone for growth. Its inclusion as part 7.7 of the Action Plan for Jobs 2012 is the culmination of a lot of hard work by a lot of people for over a decade.

This week also saw the launch of the search for the Irish (North & South) team to be entered into Dare to Be Digital at the Department of Education, and the Games Ireland Gathering 2012 brought together over two hundred of us in Dublin's docklands.

While much of the economy is in a flux, the Irish games industry is one of the few sectors that has shown measurable growth. So how has all of these come together? Anyone trying to build a career when there effectively wasn't an industry to begin with had a fun challenge, but through some pioneering groups of people and the growth in related technology industries, a whirlpool has centred on Ireland in recent years.

Journey released next month | Edge

Game Industry News Pipe — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 08:07:44 +0000

Thatgamecompany's long-awaited adventure Journey will be released on March 14 in the US and a day later in Europe, the developer has confirmed.

http://blog.eu.playstation.com/2012/02/16/your-journey-begins-on-14-march

PlayStation Blog

Thatgamecompany's long-awaited PSN adventure Journey will be released on March 14 in the US and a day later in Europe, the developer has confirmed.

Fruit Mania | BigFish

Free Game Downloads Pipe — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 08:00:00 +0000

Survive Fruit Mania in this incredible, unique, and fun Match 3 game! Stop the bugs from eating your fruit by clearing the level and using terrific traps that you unlock by matching the different fruits. With countless levels and challenging gameplay, Fruit Mania is sure to keep you entertained for hours. Grow different trees to earn powerful new weapons like the Blade and Smart Bomb. Can you destroy the bugs and survive?

Witches’ Legacy: The Charleston Curse | BigFish

Free Game Downloads Pipe — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 08:00:00 +0000

End the Charleston Curse before it wipes out an entire family and save a young girl in Witches’ Legacy: The Charleston Curse! After finding out that you are the last living relative to a young orphan named Lynn, you discover the terrifying tale of her family. The Charlestons have been systematically killed by a witch and now it’s up to you to protect Lynn! Confront the terrifying witch and save Lynn in Witches’ Legacy: The Charleston Curse!

Live Free: Freemium Thinking For Console Games

Game Industry News Pipe — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 07:45:00 +0000

Among the various concepts which underpin the "freemium" business model, one of the most difficult for developers and publishers to accept is the idea that you're going to be giving away the vast majority of your work for free. Not only will most of the people who play a freemium game do so without paying anything - even those who pay will actually be paying for add-on content, consumables or customisation items, rather than directly parting with money for the core game you've laboured to build.

I suspect that that's part of the reason why some people in the industry have such a strong, instinctive reaction against freemium. To those brought up in the culture of spending years building a game and then selling it at a premium price, the suggestion that they should instead give that game away for free and make their money by selling cosmetic items or energy potions to a minority of players seems somewhere between farce and blasphemy.

Those who recoil from the very concept of freemium, however, might do well to consider the proposition from another angle. It's popular to characterise freemium as a market-upsetting, disruptive approach to making money from games - but I think there's a more rational perspective which simply says that freemium is a way of describing and understanding something that's already happening anyway in this business. It's not an attempt to replace existing business models with something new - it's just a recognition of a reality that already exists.

Gamevil reports record profits and reveues for 2011

Game Industry News Pipe — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 16:27:00 +0000

The South Korean mobile publisher Gamevil has reported record revenues and net profits for 2011.

The company posted revenues of 42.6 billion KRW (£23.9 million / $37.6 million), up 39 percent from last year's figures. Net profits hit 16.1 billion KRW (£9 million / $14.2 million), an increase of 9 per cent.

Smartphone products continued to generate strong revenue for the company, accounting for 73 per cent of its total annual sales. Business generated outside of Korea was also on the rise, up 106 per cent from 2010.

Sony Ericsson now Sony Mobile Communications

Game Industry News Pipe — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 16:11:00 +0000

Sony has finalised its acquisition of Sony Ericsson. The now wholly owned subsidiary has been renamed as Sony Mobile Communications, and its mobile phones will be integrated into the Sony line-up of products.

The newly named company will be headquartered in London, with R&D sites in Beijing, Lund, Silicon Valley and Tokyo. President and CEO Bert Nordberg will oversee the 8000 employees. Its stated capital is €100 million.

Sony Ericsson announced the deal last October, when it also revealed that Sony would pay $1.45 billion in the buy out.

iOS Game Center to go cross-platform | Edge

Game Industry News Pipe — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 15:39:49 +0000

Mac OS X will support Apple's gaming social network with the release of 10.8 Mountain Lion, a paid update that will be released in summer. Like Game Center on iOS, which was launched in 2010, its Mac incarnation will include support for achievements, scoreboards, online play and matchmaking, and add cross-platform play and in-game voice chat.

Mac OS X will support Apple's gaming social network with the release of 10.8 Mountain Lion, a paid update that will be released in summer. Like Game Center on iOS, which was launched in 2010, its Mac incarnation will include support for achievements, scoreboards, online play, game invites and matchmaking, and add cross-platform play and in-game voice chat.

Notch: "Stop hyping, internet" | Edge

Game Industry News Pipe — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 13:42:40 +0000

Minecraft creator Markus "Notch" Persson has revealed his frustration at his every word being taken as fact, saying that unless people "stop hyping" he'll stop being "open and transparent on Twitter." The Mojang co-founder says in a blog post that his offer on Twitter to fund a sequel to Double Fine's Psychonauts was made "semi-jokingly" and should not have been taken so seriously.

http://notch.tumblr.com/post/17681692985/hype

Notch

Minecraft creator Markus "Notch" Persson has revealed his frustration at his every word being taken as fact, saying that unless people "stop hyping" he'll stop being "open and transparent on Twitter."

The Mojang co-founder says in a blog post that his offer on Twitter to fund a sequel to Double Fine's Psychonauts was made "semi-jokingly" and should not have been taken so seriously.

Magazine ABCs show a games press in decline

Game Industry News Pipe — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 13:12:00 +0000

Circulation numbers are down across the board for the games press in the latest ABC figures for consumer print magazines during 2011.

Future Publishing's Edge magazine saw sales fall from 28,051 in 2010 to 24,443 in 2011, while the official magazines also saw significant readership losses.

PlayStation Official now stands at 38,262, down from 46,012, while Official Nintendo Magazine is at 36,197, a drop from 45,015. Official Xbox 360 Magazine fared better, with a smaller decrease, from 60,859 to 58,610.

Lego Minecraft unveiled | Edge

Game Industry News Pipe — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 12:51:00 +0000

Official Mojang tie-in available for preorder today ahead of summer release.

Mojang and The Lego Group have revealed the first official pictures of Lego Minecraft Micro World.

The Minecraft-inspired Lego set will be released this summer for $34.99 / €34.99, but can be preordered from today. Each set contains four modular cubes, the surface of which can be removed to reveal mines and hidden resources beneath. Also included are two of the game's most iconic characters: Steve and a Creeper.

Jazz: Trump’s Journey review | Edge

Game Industry News Pipe — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 12:41:48 +0000

The birth of jazz in New Orleans, as told through the medium of platforming.

It isn’t often that one thinks of To Kill A Mockingbird while playing a game, much less one that costs £1.99. But where Harper Lee used humour and innocence to expose racism from the viewpoint of a child, French developer EggBall Games pulls off a similar feat by filtering its difficult subject matter through the lens of a traditional platformer.

Fargo: Kickstarter "means we don’t have to do it like the publisher wants"

Game Industry News Pipe — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 12:18:00 +0000

Brian Fargo, founder of Interplay, will use Kickstarter to fund a sequel to old school RPG Wasteland.

"Pondering bringing Wasteland back through this crowdfunding. It's a world I have longed to work with again," he tweeted on Tuesday.

He then confirmed his decision to fund the PC title using Kickstarter, telling IGN "this process means we don't have to do it like the publisher wants."

AWESOME Land review | Edge

Game Industry News Pipe — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 12:08:41 +0000

8bit games get punked in FreakZone’s lo-fi homage to the olden days.

It probably wasn’t the FreakZone Games' intention, but AWESOME Land will give you a brilliant insight into what made Super Mario Bros. so special in the first place. Its rough-hewn platformer references Nintendo’s classic with each brick texture and every bottom-bounced enemy, but it consistently misses the weight of Mario, along with his precision, his variable speeds, and a dozen other lesser elements that make an acceptable game into something truly legendary.

Triple Town fortunes | Edge

Game Industry News Pipe — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 11:46:09 +0000

Spry Fox CEO David Edery on the pernicious effects of cloning on indies and the launch of Triple Town on smartphones.

The past month must have been frenetic for developer Spry Fox, especially regarding its hit puzzle game, Triple Town. From partnering with Playdom on Facebook to initiating legal proceedings against 6waves Lolapps for cloning it, and also releasing smartphone versions, this tiny indie studio has repeatedly been making big waves.

Sony insists devs still keen on Vita | Edge

Game Industry News Pipe — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 11:35:53 +0000

Sony has said that claims that thirdparty developers are cancelling Vita projects and shifting focus to 3DS are "largely exaggerated." A report by Japanese newspaper Nikkei yesterday quoted an unattributed source as saying: "Major Japanese companies are cancelling all projects intended for Vita and are changing development to 3DS."

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/40335/Is_Vita_losing_developer_support_already_Sony_responds.php

Gamasutra

Sony has said that claims that thirdparty developers are cancelling Vita projects and shifting focus to 3DS are "largely exaggerated."

Batman and LA Noire shine among BAFTA nominees

Game Industry News Pipe — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 11:10:00 +0000

Batman: Arkham City and LA Noire have both scored eight nominations among the list of 48 nominees for the GAME British Academy Video Games Awards, released today.

Both titles are nominated for awards in the Artistic Achievement, Best Game, Design, Original Music, Performer, and Story categories. LA Noire also appeared in the Debut Game, and Game Innovation categories, while Batman also scooped Action and Audio Achievement nominations. Both are also on the list for the The GAME Award of 2011.

Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception, LittleBigPlanet 2 and Portal 2 also racked up an impressive number of nominations, while in the BAFTA Ones To Watch category, created in association with Dare To Be Digital, Joust, Dreamweaver and Tick Tock Toys all received the stamp of approval.